The Virtual Memories Show
A weekly conversation about books, art, comics and culture -- not necessarily in that order. Hosted by Gil Roth
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Episode 664 - Glenn Kurtz
11/18/2025
Episode 664 - Glenn Kurtz
Who were the men who built the Empire State Building? returns to the show to tell their story with (Seven Stories Press). We talk about how he accidentally fell into this project, how "turn every page" led him to a key discovery about 's photos of the Empire State construction, how his experience researching and writing helped him with this book, his childhood connection with the Empire State, and how identifying their subjects affects the mythic aura of Hine's photographs. We get into the corporate perspective of the building and how it dehumanizes the workers who built it, and similarly how that heroic collectivist notion of The Worker devalues workers as people, whether craftsmanship and artisanship survived the transition into mass production during the skyscraper era, Hine's authorial fallacy and the genius of his portraits, and what the Empire State says about the immigration-dynamics of the workforce and the role of unions, We also discuss the question of context and how the question, "What are we looking at?" can reveal the world, the resonance of , the messiness of history, the joy of Virginia Woolf's diaries, why Glenn just wants to write a novel without it inspiring a nonfiction project, and more. Follow Glenn on and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 663 - Jennifer Hayden
11/11/2025
Episode 663 - Jennifer Hayden
Who knew that olive oil makes head lice sleepy? rejoins the show to celebrate her new graphic memoir/anti-cookbook, (Top Shelf), share comedic tales of domestic mess, and rebel against the expectations of wife/motherhood. We talk about the lifetime of bad cooking that led to this new book, the revenge of turning her bad experiences into comedy, how she found a unique form to tell her story, and how a youthful reading of Babar left her with a lifelong phobia of mushrooms. We get into how she was reverse-inspired by Lucy Knisley's , how watercolors gave her a color toolbox for her comics, what this book taught her about storytelling, and how her daughter diagnosed her as "expectation-allergic." We also discuss how she's been cheating on comics with , what life after memoir is like, how doubled as a last will & testament for her family, the process of finding a new creative process and narrative voice, her shamanic experience attending The Moth, the significance of the tarot card she repeatedly draws when she's hard at work on a book, why the folk names of herbs are like edible emotion, and more. Follow Jennifer on and , and subscribe to • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 662 - Rian Hughes
11/05/2025
Episode 662 - Rian Hughes
Multi-hyphenate rejoins the show to celebrate his new Kickstarter, (closing November 20, 2025)! We talk about designing and publishing a catalog-collection of every font he ever designed for , how the Kickstarter has proved a lot more successful than he was expecting, seeing one of his fonts showing up on , and how typography means designing a form without content. We get into the history of type design and how he approaches new design with respect for his precursors, the serendipity that led to one of his best-known fonts, how he balances commercial work with pushing the limits of design in personal projects, the artist's trajectory from inspired amateur to spent expert, how he knows when one of his fonts has been ripped off, and his take on AI in illustration and type design. We also discuss his new novel and how it fits with and , the pros and cons of advertising work, designing the new EC Horror comics, the next Kickstarter he's considering, how he used to keep three different portfolios until he realized it was All Rian and integrated them into one, why his creative mind leaves him with zero interest in meditation, and more. Follow Rian on and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 661 - Josh Neufeld
10/28/2025
Episode 661 - Josh Neufeld
Comics journalist joins the show to talk about the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the legacy of his fantastic graphic reporting of the lives upended by that catastrophe, (Pantheon). We talk about his new 'zine followup, , how the storm inspired him to become an emergency response volunteer and what he learned when he was stationed in Biloxi, what it was like to learn journalism and reporting on the fly and integrate those with his comics storytelling skills, and why his goal with A.D. was to make a people's history. We get into how he viewed the anniversary, whether he's gone back to New Orleans since reporting on it, and how he stayed connected with his subjects after the project and what it was like putting the anniversary 'zine together. We also discuss his comics upbringing, what it was like drawing for Harvey Pekar after years of American Splendor fandom, how constraints can lead to greater creativity, how neither of us have the lying gene necessary for fiction, his interest in graphic medicine and how that shapes his recent comics, the difference between journalism and nonfiction, a couple of my anecdotes, how Michael Jordan's minor league baseball experience helps explain why comics people (usually) treat newbies well, and more. Follow Josh on , and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 660 - Dean Haspiel and Whitney Matheson
10/24/2025
Episode 660 - Dean Haspiel and Whitney Matheson
Cartoonist-playwright-filmmaker rejoins the show for the homestretch of his new Kickstarter, (finishing Nov. 3, 2025), and brings his studio mate along to talk about her new story collection, . We talk about how Dino got the idea for a one-man anthology to contain all the characters & stories of his Dino-verse, new models for funding creative projects, and how promotion can be tough when you accidentally get banned on . They give me creative advice to help me get through my own book project, talk about their lessons from crowdfunding and self-publishing, and come up with a great idea for a new book, while we cope with some technical difficulties. Follow Dean on , support his , and buy stuff on his , and follow Whitney on , support her , and buy stuff on her • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 659 - Ron Rosenbaum
10/21/2025
Episode 659 - Ron Rosenbaum
One of my fave writers, , returns to the show to celebrate his amazing new book, (Melville House Press). We talk about how his lifetime fandom of Dylan led to this book, why he opted for a biographical meditation over strict biography, the week he spent with Dylan in the '70s for , what our response to Dylan's songs say about us, and how he got over his sense of betrayal when Dylan joined a Jesus-cult for a few years. We get into his insight into Dylan's Nobel acceptance and the Rosebud-moment therein, the question of theodicy (radical evil) and Dylan's argument with God, Ron's experience falling in love with someone to Dylan's songs, and how Dylan's post-Jesus songwriting methods became a reflection of his One-Mind consciousness. We also discuss authenticity vs. sincerity, the discontinuity of being, the impact of Salinger & Dylan on American language and outlook, Ron's top 20-ish of Dylan's songs, in the '70s and how it may have led to his crack-up (and why Ron thinks it should be reissued), and more. Follow Ron on • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 658 - Lance Richardson
10/14/2025
Episode 658 - Lance Richardson
Writer rejoins the show to celebrate his magnificent new biography, (Pantheon). We talk about his youthful introduction to Peter Matthiessen via , how this project grew beyond his (& his publisher's) original concept, the health risks of following PM's trek through Nepal to the Crystal Monastery and the fleetingness of his time there, and which of PM's many hyphens he focuses on (novelist-naturalist-Zen roshi). We get into Matthiessen's journey into American Zen, the problematic nature of race and gender in PM's life and work, PM's fixation on Bigfoot and how that shifted to the notional, the Paris Review/CIA connection that everyone asks about, and how Matthiessen's widow came to trust Lance with the project. We also discuss , the financial challenges of long-term writing projects (this one took eight years), getting over self-doubt and learning from his previous biography of , enjoying the research-hunt of biography more than the writing, what his literary upbringing in Australia was like, whether he came to like or despite Matthiessen, and more! Plus, I monologue-ramble about my 20,000th day on earth and the pod-retirement of ! Follow Lance on and and listen to • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 657 - Tom Tomorrow
10/07/2025
Episode 657 - Tom Tomorrow
Political cartoonist (a.k.a. Dan Perkins) is back as we celebrate his new Kickstarter project, (closing Oct. 30, 2025, so ), collecting 5+ years of weekly cartoons! We talk about how he keeps his sanity (well, tries to), what it was like to look back at the past half-decade week by week, why he decided not to go down a rabbit-hole of extra material for the project, and what it means to have a bookshelf of his strips (and not just pixels on a screen). We get into the importance of his as the media landscape keeps withering away, his writing process and how the, um, of this administration compels him to build some flexibility each week, and the realization that he's made a major body of work over the past four decades. We also discuss his major life changes since we last recorded, the good and bad of Being Very Online, his love of Martin Cruz Smith's , what makes him a New Yorker, and the impossibly fraught question of what brings him joy. Follow Tom Tomorrow on and , subscribe to , and check out his merch from and . Oh, and you can follow This Modern World on and/or • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 656 - Kayla E
10/01/2025
Episode 656 - Kayla E
With her debut graphic novel, (Fantagraphics), artist and designer explores and investigates the trauma of her upbringing, the fragments of her memories, and the process of reintegration. We talk about why comics were the perfect form for this project, how she found her iconography and the postwar children's comics style for it, what it was like to uncover her memories and get them on the page, how it feels to give her story to her readers, and how she's learning to respond when her readers share their trauma with her. We get into her comics-roots, what it was like to hit up her comics heroes, how she felt the moment told her she had a book on her hands, why Harvard is bad for getting a comics education, how her work as a graphic designer dovetailed with the incredible production of Precious Rubbish. We also discuss her recovery and her conversion experience, why her Bible kinda begins and ends with the Book of Job, her years of worry that she'd turn out as psychopathic as her parents and brother, why the Sopranos is her favorite work of art, what it means to not be loved by one's parents, and more. Follow Kayla on • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 655 - Hunter Prosper
09/23/2025
Episode 655 - Hunter Prosper
ICU nurse joins me this week as we celebrate his wonderful new book, (Simon Element). We talk about the ICU experiences that led him to start talking to strangers in public and asking them deep questions about their lives five years ago, how those conversations have changed him, why he started sharing them online, how he figured out the questions he wanted to ask, and how long it takes just talking to someone before they're both comfortable with him recording the questions. Along the way, we get into how we each approach the dance of having a conversation with someone we've never met, what it was like to discover he had an audience, whether people speak differently when the phone comes out, and how it felt to see a book-length version of this project. We also discuss how he wants to explore new ways of making his videos, how it felt to discover there's a group-chat of his past strangers (that he's not invited to), why he'll always be a nurse first and not a 'content creator,' going traveling with his fiancee to do interviews and photos for the book, what he sees when he looks in the mirror, and more. Oh, and things get heavy once I tell him it's okay to ask me some questions. Follow Hunter and Stories From A Stranger on , , and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 654 - ML Rio
09/16/2025
Episode 654 - ML Rio
With her amazing new novel, (Simon & Schuster), author, critic, and inveterate road-tripper evokes the rock scene of the '80s and the travails of the not-quite-Almost-Famous band GIL AND THE KILLS. We talk about the redemptive & destructive power of rock & roll, how music is inseparable from her writing process, the challenge of writing about live performance, why it makes sense that "the girl with the Shakespeare degree is writing a rock & roll novel," and why she couldn't gloss over the sweatiness of touring and road trips. We get into the literature gap of people in their 30s (esp. women), how this novel evolved with her over a decade, what it's like operating in male-dominated spaces like music criticism, why she's going out on a and trying to make it as fun as a rock tour (including merch!), what it means to be an ethical eavesdropper, how she stays safe (and well fed) while solo road-tripping around America, and the joy of radio crime drama. We also discuss the obsessiveness of record collectors, the loss of nuance in literature, the warping influence of Catholicism (and the perils of reading Shakespeare and Bret Easton Ellis way too young), our first concerts (her: Green Day, me: Asia), and a lot more. Follow M.L. on , and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 653 - David Leopold
09/10/2025
Episode 653 - David Leopold
Curator and archivist rejoins the show for a wide-ranging talk centered on the amazing new (Abrams ComicArts). We talk about David's decades as Hirschfeld's archivist, Sondheim's love of Hirschfeld's work, the process of making his first book of Hirschfeld's art that focuses on a single creator, the connections between Al & Sondheim in David's text pieces for the book, and the joy of getting an intro from Bernadette Peters. We get into the work that the does for regional theaters, why the drop-off of arts criticism is a disaster for culture, how younger people experience and appreciate Hirschfeld's art, and the time David held a seance at the Algonquin to promote the . We also discuss our all-time fave Prince songs, what it's like being an archivist in a post-object world, the that blew his mind, his new exhibitions at the , how the next generation of theater organists (!) is getting trained, how aware Sondheim and Hirschfeld were that they were making history in their lifetimes, and more. Follow David & the Al Hirschfeld Foundation on , , , , • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 652 - Dmitry Samarov
09/03/2025
Episode 652 - Dmitry Samarov
It's been a year since his last episode, so what's artist been up to? Plenty! We talk about his new project of redesigning and illustrating public domain books, why he started off with the , and why was next in line, what the common themes are among the six books he's illustrated since this project began, and how it all ties into his reaction to the 2024 election. We get into what it's like working with publishers after controlling his own books for years, how he discovered James Hogg's on SOME OTHER PODCAST (okay, it was ), how he's exploring visual interpretation and different tools with each book, and how this project has him reading and rereading differently than he used to. We also talk about how he looks back at his art in the wake of his self-monograph, how he got into a relationship with someone after a long time solo (after a showing of why Cronenberg's not-good ), what other books he's considering illustrating, his new series of 'zines about bookselling, the joy of Moby Dick's tangents, and more. Follow Dmitry at and through , and buy some books from • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 651 - AMA
08/26/2025
Episode 651 - AMA
No guest this week, so it's time for our first Ask Me Anything (AMA) episode ! Past guests and pals peppered me with questions about the podcast, my reading habits, menswear aesthetics, mental health, comics, hair care, keeping a journal, work/life balance or lack thereof, the one episode I think people are sleeping on, Star Trek vs. Star Wars, the superpower I wish I had, and a lot more. I dish some pod-secrets, talk about the episodes that will never air, and tell you where I buy my underwear, so go listen! Follow me on and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 650 - Dan Goldman
08/19/2025
Episode 650 - Dan Goldman
With (Kinjin Storylab), writer/cartoonist brings us a wildly entertaining graphic novel of midlife, the afterlife, and the south Florida real estate market. We talk about how the concept for RLP grabbed hold of him 20+ years back & never let go, why the story had to take place in/around Miami, how his work in video games and TV/movies affected his world-building in comics. We get into the peak life experiences of making this book, the transition from digital to print, why he set the book in landscape, the role of the "invisible" elements of comics design, the impact Scott McCloud's had on him, why the of Red Light Properties — Gut Renovations — will be "singles, not albums," how it felt to work with Kickstarter and control every aspect of Unfinished Business' design & production, all while reveling in our shared comic loves. We also discuss turning 50, whether cocaine is ever a good story device, his sensitivity to hauntings, why he needs to quit comics every so often, the effect had on him (esp. Grant Morrison's letter columns), the paradox of choice and the joy of the analog-hunt, his prose writing and why he tells stories that are 83% true, and plenty more. Follow Dan on , and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 649 - David Levithan and Jens Lekman
08/13/2025
Episode 649 - David Levithan and Jens Lekman
With (Abrams Press), writer and singer-songwriter bring the collaborative alchemy, as 20 years of fandom/friendship lead to this wonderful novel about a Swedish singer-songwriter — J — who finds a side-career playing original songs at people's weddings. We talk about the power of a great song, how David & Jens traded writing prompts with each other — a wedding song leading to a chapter, a chapter leading to a wedding song —, discovered how differently they each look at love, and managed to fuse that tension into a story of how love changes over time. We get into the differences between stories and songs, how Jens had fallen out of love with music (blame Spotify) and how this book helped him fall back in love with it, whether they'll write a sequel about funerals, and how Jens' song, "" led to his side-career as a wedding singer. We also discuss inspired by the book, David's upcoming , the ways collaboration helps create new structures, what it means to be alone, how our private lives can get drowned by our public ones, their book/music tour and the importance of face-to-face interaction, the value of emotionally honest fiction, and more, including numerous Nick Cave references. Follow Jens on , and , and check out David's and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 648 - Sacha Mardou
08/05/2025
Episode 648 - Sacha Mardou
With (Avery), cartoonist brings us a phenomenal graphic memoir about the midlife process of overcoming lifelong traumas and anxiety. We talk about her decision to to make her therapy process (& sessions) public, first as and then as a Past Tense, the benefits of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, what it took to violate the English stiff upper lip and admit that she had problems and needed therapy, and her mother's Jehovah Witness conversion and how she's still sifting through the damage of that. We get into how therapy changed her relationship to her daughter, why corniness is no reason to avoid addressing/admitting one's inner child (and the work I needed to do to truly appreciate Past Tense), the strong, supportive and sympathetic public response to her online therapy comics and how she wound up going back to her therapist to deal with the shame-cycle of that, and how her families (and therapists) feel about seeing themselves in the book. We also discuss Sacha's indy comics upbringing, her marriage to fellow cartoonist and whether that means her daughter has any hope for a non-cartooning career, how she feels like her art is always catching up to her writing, how we feel about Gen X getting overlooked, her Doris Lessing binge during perimenopause, and a lot more. Follow Sacha on , and , and check out her and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 647 - Oliver Radclyffe
07/28/2025
Episode 647 - Oliver Radclyffe
With his phenomenal debut memoir, (Roxane Gay Books/Grove Atlantic), takes us on a journey into trans-selfhood. We talk about the gap between a trans narrator and a cis-het reader, the importance of trans visibility, how his understanding of masculinity and being male have changed, and how he faced down the risks and sacrifices in his life as he transitioned, despite the uncertainty of what lay ahead. We get into how he found the perfect voice for his memoir, the importance of on his writing process, his life-defining moment of seeing , why being raised in privilege explained why he knew so little about the queer world, the surprisingly wonderful support his (conservative Christian) parents gave him throughout his journey, and why the book focuses on his pre-transition life. We also discuss whether he looks at photos of his pre-transition self, how testosterone has affected his life, how gender can shift with age, how the joy of publishing his first book has transformed him (and how he hopes it leads to a long mid-to-late-life writing career), whether he's ready to be an empty-nester, what it means to find validation through performance and defining oneself through relationships, why he identifies as a gender-irrelevant transsexual, and a lot more. Follow Oliver on and and subscribe to • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 646 - Eulogy
07/15/2025
Episode 646 - Eulogy
No conversation this week, unless you count me talking to myself. This episode, I share some thoughts and memories about my father, following his death last week at the age of 88 — or 87, depending on who he was lying to — along with the eulogy I gave at his funeral. • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 645 - Rachel Cockerell
06/30/2025
Episode 645 - Rachel Cockerell
How did Russian Jews wind up migrating to Galveston, Texas in the early 1900s? How did the image of America as melting pot come into existence? How did a family memoir evolve into a forgotten history of Zionism? Find out during my conversation with about her amazing new book, (FSG)! We talk about the tightrope walk of composing a history solely out of primary sources and why she eschewed the author's voice for this book, her grudging acceptance of Robert Caro's maxim to , and how her perspective on Jewishness changed over the course of writing the book. We get into the once-titanic literary figure of and how he gave it up to find a homeland for the world's Jews, how Zangwill invented the notion of the melting pot and whether he truly believed in assimilationism, the inspiration of George Saunders' on Melting Point, and how Rachel got over the notion that the past was just a lead-up to now. We also discuss her next book on Halley's Comet and whether she'll stick with her primary sources-mode in future books, how her family reacted to seeing their stories (& contradictions) on the page, how a 90-year-old distant relative stole the show, and a lot more. Follow Rachel on and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 644 - Paul Karasik
06/25/2025
Episode 644 - Paul Karasik
Thirty-plus years in the making, the graphic adaptation of (Pantheon) is here at last! rejoins the show from to talk about the process of adapting Auster's postmodern crime novels into comics, how he collaborated with David Mazzucchelli (CITY OF GLASS) and (GHOSTS) on the first two and how he wound up drawing the third book, THE LOCKED ROOM, how these novels possessed him for decades, and the moment when he understood what each novel was really about. We get into how he met Auster at a parent-teacher conference shortly after the New York Trilogy came out, the moment of truth when Auster first saw the pages for City of Glass, the freedom (and restriction) Auster offered for the project, and whether Auster got to see the finished pages before his death in 2024. We also discuss Paul's comics upbringing, how his mother supported his habit (and maybe melted her son's brain by getting him a book of R. Crumb comics at 12 or 13), his lack of confidence in his drawing and his supreme confidence in his teaching, how meeting Art Spiegelman changed his life, why he's starting an , the immense inspiration of staying at Yaddo (and how he learned The Two Rules Of Yaddo), and a lot more. Follow Paul on , support his , and check out his • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 643 - Kate Maruyama
06/17/2025
Episode 643 - Kate Maruyama
One of my fave guest/friends, , rejoins the show to celebrate her wonderful new novel, (Running Wild Press)! We talk about the book's long gestation/publishing history, Kate's love of old Hollywood & costume design, closeted movie stars and how she told the story of a gay relationship in the '30s & '40s, and how it felt to write a non-horror horror story. We get into her own Hollywood experience in the '90s, how it informs Alterations, and how it felt to repeatedly smash into the glass ceiling, as well as how ghosts creep into everything she writes, how older people become invisible but have stories to tell, and how important it was to have a champion in for this novel. We also discuss present-moment Los Angeles, the craft book about novella-writing she's co-writing, the need to decolonize her writing students, the (maybe non-existent) influence of Jodie Foster's on Alterations, the essay she wrote around the decline & death of her mother, , and more. Follow Kate on and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 642 - David Denby
06/09/2025
Episode 642 - David Denby
With his fantastic new book, (Holt), writer and critic explores the impact on American culture of Jews Unbound through profiles of Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan, and Norman Mailer. We talk about how he selected his four subjects, how each of them came of age in an environment that Jews hadn't experienced in millennia, the ways each handled the responsibilities of family against their careers, the difference between "Jew" and "Jewish," and which one unfolded the most to him over the course of writing the book. We get into why Bernstein's greatest role may have been as a teacher, how Mailer's magnetism persisted way beyond its expiration date, how Friedan changed the world but was always challenged by her midwest upbringing, and whether Brooks was being disingenuous when he made musical numbers of our the Inquisition and Hitler. We also discuss judgements David made over the course of his career as a , what he did when he finally gave up reviewing and how he eased back into the cinema, why he revisited the course at Columbia a few years ago, after previously revisiting it 30+ years ago for , his take on my my lightning round of classic lit questions, his non-Le Carré experience in East Berlin, his reaction to my parents taking me to when I was 9, and more. Follow David on • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 641 - Peter Stothard
06/03/2025
Episode 641 - Peter Stothard
Can we find the poet in their poems? With (Yale University Press), explores how the life of the great Roman poet unfolds though his art and the histories. We talk about why he wrote this biography through a critical study of Horace's poems (and why that's been a controversial approach), how Horace embodied the artist-as-madman long before the Romantic era, and why it was important to show the alienness of Horace's verse and how nervous Peter was about translating him into English to show how the Latin works. We get into Horace's place in Rome's history, how he bridged Greek poetic modes into Latin, the variety of genres Horace worked in (and invented), and why the poet was cancelled early and often over the centuries. We also discuss mortality and legacy, how Horace & I each reacted to not getting killed by falling trees, why a certain Great Books program is so Athens-centric, how Peter's secondary school introduced him to "INCIPE!," "Sapere Aude," and "Carpe Diem," among other Horace-isms, and more! Follow Peter on • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 640 - Cecile Wajsbrot
05/27/2025
Episode 640 - Cecile Wajsbrot
With her bewitching and beautiful novel (Seagull Books, translated from French by , who joins our conversation), takes us on a tour of Chenobyl's Forbidden Zone, the High Line in NYC, Dresden, Paris, under the shadow of the Time Passes section of Virginia Woolf's . We talk about the challenges of writing a first-person novel about translation, the strange ways Woolf has followed Cecile throughout her careers as author & translator, and how it felt to see her novel about translating Virginia Woolf into French get translated into English. We get into her literary career, how Time Passes became a stand-in for her fascination with destruction, why she's translated Woolf's three times over thirty years (and whether the first one got her into the bad graces of the editor of Le Monde de Livres), what it was like to subvert the translator's typical role of invisibility with this novel, and the language she wishes she had. We also discuss mourning and the ways we try to keep conversation alive with those we've lost, the time I impressed the Princess of Yugoslavia by transliterating the Cyrillic on her family's jewels, and more. More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 639 - Keiler Roberts
05/20/2025
Episode 639 - Keiler Roberts
She may be able to quit cartooning (for a while), but can't quit The Virtual Memories Show! With her wonderful new book, (Drawn & Quarterly), Keiler returns to comics with a collection of (mostly) hilarious vignettes about domestic life, middle-age, the impact of multiple sclerosis, and having too many pets. We talk about why she walked away from comics and how she came back, how she avoids memoir in favor of memory (and humor), how she still has anxiety over drawing but is way too tired to have social anxiety anymore, and why she branched into kitschy craft-modes that no one would mistake for art. We get into why she wants her kid to read her journals when she's gone, how MS taught her how to be bored, how men have no idea what perimenopause is like, what it means to be the best appointment of her doctors' day, and the reward of teaching comics to her friends and her mom. We also discuss how helped her back into comics with this book (& encourages her in every other artistic idea she has), how weird it is to see two of Karl's super-detailed pages beside her sparse drawings in Preparing To Bite, and why she loved collaborating with her brother on the grownup fairytale . Plus, she teaches me the difference between living more and doing more, and I read you guys a Rilke poem in the intro. Follow Keiler on , and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 638 - Peter Kuper
05/13/2025
Episode 638 - Peter Kuper
With his new graphic novel, (WWNorton), brings us the 400-million-year history of insects in their own words as they take a post-human tour of the New York Public Library. We talk about how Insectopolis began when he was around 4 years old and saw the 17-year cicada brood, how Peter needed a new mode of comics-making for this book, and how he made the NYPL a key character in the project. We get into mankind's dependence on insects, the stories of forgotten entomologists (and why they were forgotten), his experience getting a at the NYPL during COVID and how he found all the great & secret rooms while the place was near-empty, the that evolved from the fellowship and how it grew in scale, and his realization that entomologists are like comic fans. We also discuss his wife's great advice going into this project, the fun of getting experts to vet every chapter of Insectopolis, the alchemy that happens when people's passions overlap, how he harnesses the dread of imminent apocalypse to make his art, and more. Follow Peter on , and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 637 - Vauhini Vara
05/05/2025
Episode 637 - Vauhini Vara
With (Pantheon), tech writer explores how our sense of self has been co-opted, quantified, and exploited by big tech as a way of selling us more stuff or selling us to third parties. We talk about what we talk about when we talk about our Google searches (& Amazon purchases, Twitter subject preferences, etc.), the interface of exploitation and self-expression, what selfhood means to tech companies vs. what it means to us, and what she learned when she fed chapters of her book into ChatGPT. We get into agency vs. coercion, how the promise of tech so often gets inverted, how ChatGPT tried & , why she brought memoir into SEARCHES alongside its other experimental modes, how her husband serves as a low-tech foil in the book, and whether or not we have a say in how the online era plays out. We also discuss why she doesn't post about her personal life, how the book's multiplicity of voices offsets the corporate voice of ChatGPT, what she got out of , the importance of non-VC-funded technology to help us escape exploitative models of information, whether an essayist ever really changes over the course of an essay, and more. Follow Vauhini on , and • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 636 - Craig Thompson
04/30/2025
Episode 636 - Craig Thompson
Artist joins the show at long last to celebrate his new book, (Pantheon). We talk about how he spent ten summers of his childhood helping farm ginseng, how that herb connects rural Wisconsin with China and South Korea, how he balanced history, journalism, economics, and memoir in the pages of his book, and why he chose to make Ginseng Roots as a serial comic rather than a standalone book and how that affected his creative process. We get into how the book serves as a sort of midlife revision of his breakthrough book, , how the last chapter of the book had to happen in near-real-time, how a degenerative condition in his hands became a unifying theme to the book while almost derailing it, how he found the design language of the book and obsessed over a two-color process (to amazing results), and whether this is his swansong for comics (spoiler: it's not!). We also discuss what home means to him, 8 months into being on the road, what it was like discovering that he had a global audience, his ongoing relationship with his evangelical Christian upbringing, his editor's concerns that Ginseng Roots could open him up to accusations of cultural insensitivity (and how he got over it), all while geeking out over our fave cartoonists from the '90s indy period (go, !), and more. Follow Craig on • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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Episode 635 - Ari Richter
04/22/2025
Episode 635 - Ari Richter
Artist, professor and now like-it-or-not cartoonist joins the show to talk about his fantastic book, (Fantagraphics). We talk about how he he began this project in the wake of the Tree of Life massacre in 2018, how it helped him exorcise the demons of his imagination after a lifetime of hearing his family's stories about the Holocaust, and how the book centered around intergenerational trauma and collaboration. We get into how he incorporated his grandfathers' holocaust memoirs into the book, why he found different styles for each section of the book, what he had to learn about comics storytelling after a career in fine arts, the revelation of reading 's memoirs and why he avoided rereading during the 5 years he worked on this book. We also discuss how drawing comics has changed his brain, why he was stunned by the commercialism of Auschwitz, why he's glad he got a German passport, why comics folks seem friendlier than fine arts people, the insanity of composing his comics pages in Photoshop (and what happens when he forgets to label his layers), and a lot more. Follow Ari on • More info • Support The Virtual Memories Show via , , or , and subscribe to
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